Absorbent garments of the above mentioned type are well known in the art.
The type of garment in question has a belt attached integrally with the absorbent garment portion and requires that, after fastening the belt around the waist with the attached end at the back of the wearer, the end not attached to the belt section should be passed through the wearer's legs and attached by some means of releasable attachment to the belt at the front. The means of releasable attachment could be a hook and loop (also called touch and close) type fastening means, for instance such as sold under the name “VELCRO”.
Published application WO-A-91/08725 discloses an example of such a garment in one embodiment.
One of the problems recognised with such garments is the problems of handling the belt portions which project from either side of the absorbent portion of the integrated garment in such a way so as to be able to quickly and accurately take hold of the belt portions and fasten them together. However the belt material still needs to be cheap since it is integrated with a garment which together with the belt form a disposable unit.
Where the problem of incontinence is involved, it will be appreciated that persons suffering from this problem are often old and have physical handicaps of various types. As a consequence, they have more difficulty fastening the belt by themselves and often require the assistance of personnel for fitting the garments.
Thus there is a need to find for a solution which allows easy and correct fitting of the absorbent garment, particularly in the case of handicapped persons.